..~* мїѕѕ ĿэІч *~..

just a short one...

2006-08-09T19:36:00.000+10:00

Okies, so i managed to put up the pictures from the last post...i'm in tallin, estonia in an internet cafe but i gotta rush off back to the ship now...i also tried posting up pictures onto my photo album but that didn't work, so don't try accessing that just yet...crappaaa!! so annoying the internet on the ships is so slow!! but fear not, i'll try again in helsinki in four days time....

anyways, i'm doing well and it's all good...having heaps of fun and missing everyone very very much...

luv always, lils!

Life on the ships!!!

2006-06-26T21:41:00.000+10:00

PIX NOW UP! YAY!

Hi Everyone!

I thought it was about time I did an update for you!

Okay, so as you are all aware, I’m now on my ship! I’ve been here since the 14th of June. It’s been good, I have a great team and manager, my treatment room is a good size and my room mate is good too! The salon is really nice but it’s very quiet…The average age group of the cruise is about 68 years old – and Ionithermie is not very popular here on ship at all. So when I don’t have Ionithermie treatments – which is almost all the time – I do massage. I don’t mind it, but I would have preferred to do facials a lot more!

Here’s some pictures of our Mandara Spa…

Hair, nail and teeth whitening area.

The private Thalasso pool in our spa.

My treatment room.

Entry into our treatment rooms – and me in my uniform…ew!

Our gym – I mean, the gym cos we're not allowed to use it!

Today we were in Waterford which is in Ireland. I didn’t get to go off the ship though cos I had to work. I did get to go to Belfast though and I saw the Giants causeway. It was pretty nice but it was sooo cold! So much for cruising in the hot weather huh? We’ve been sailing the British Isles and from the window of the salon, each view looks pretty much the same! Hehee…

Giant’s causeway

Some castle ruins

For our next cruise, we’re heading to Oslo, Kristiansand, Lerwick, Torshavn, Reykjavik, Stornoway, Belfast, Dublin and back to Dover. Can’t really tell u what countries these places are in – cos I don’t know!!

I get about 2 days off each cruise – this cruise was 12 days long, the next cruise will be 14 days long…erghh…

My ship has about 700 guests and 400 crew – it’s a pretty small ship. It’s the Oceana Insignia and it’s a really nice ship – for the guests J The crew area is still good – I don’t know how it compares to other ships though. You’ll be pleased to hear that I’m still eating like a pig – and I’m probably gonna get fat cos I do no exercise (less than I did back home!) The food is all buffet style and the food’s not bad – similar to what you’d get in Smorgy’s or something like that. Just a lot less variety, but we still get all our soups, meats, salads, veggies and desert J We don’t get the lobster tho L that’s only for the guests!

I have a tv in my cabin, also a dvd player and speakers and a sub woofer. The tv is provided, but the other things are my room mates. She said she’ll leave em for me when she leaves – in 2 months. I’m on the top bunk, but it’s such a hassle getting up and down all the time!! When she leaves, I’m definitely taking the bottom bunk!

There isn’t too much to do on the ship – we aren’t allowed in guest areas unless we wear our evening uniform. We aren’t allowed to eat in the restaurants, they’re for guests only. We can’t use the guest facilities like the pool and sun deck area. We have our own tiny stingy gym, we have our own crew bar (a bottle of corona costs about $3, a bottle of heiniken costs $2, and a red bull costs about $2 as well), staff mess (where the officers, boutique, spa assistants & entertainers eat) and crew mess (where the waiters, cleaning staff and all other staff eat). The food in the staff mess is better than the crew mess.

Here’s the guest pool and deck area.

The basic outline of where the Oceana Insignia is going is – Europe, mediteranean and then south America. My contract will finish in mid February! Then if I can be bothered, I might travel around Europe for a bit, and then I’ll head home!

I have been homesick, but I am starting to settle in a bit more. It’s easier cos my team is really friendly and nice. They’re all great people. I work at least 12 hours a day, but the time goes by really fast here! I don’t have all that many treatments to do though because the salon is pretty quiet unless it’s a sea day (when we’re sailing all day). Port days (when we’re in port obviously) are really quiet. It sux cos I’m starting to get bored and really want it to be busier.

We have wireless internet in the staff mess, crew mess and crew bar so I can use my laptop, but it costs 20c US a minute! It’s pretty expensive, so I download my emails on the net, then log off and type em offline, then go back online and send em. So if you’re free, just email me and I’ll write back when I can!!

Hope everyone’s doing well…
I’ll try and write again soon!

Freedom 4 the weekend!

2006-06-10T04:08:00.000+10:00

Okies, so i've been here for 2 weeks and now starting my 3rd week. I wasn't feeling too good towards the end of the week - getting real homesick and tired of all the work i've had to do.

I haven't blogged in 2 weeks because I haven't had any time at all...and no, that's not cos i've been partying too hard! it's cos i've been studying my ass off!! No time for anything at all - i wake up, study a bit, go to school, come home, have dinner and study more til i go to sleep...AND i didn't get the weekend off either - I was at school...it's been lovely! NOT! The study load is really hard and they cram it all into 9 days...it's ok now, i'm officially a qualified Ionithermie therapist - if you want to know what it is, google it, there's sites about the treatment. But basically it's a detox program where u can lose up to 8 inches of toxins in one treatment - and it does work (we do the treatments on each other in class)! much to my surprise...it's interesting, but once i start doing it on the ships, i'm sure it'll get really boring...I have to do a lot of talking, describing the treatment, about toxins and our bodies (cellulite & fat) and prescribing products for home care. It'll get really repetitive but apparently an Ionithermie column is really good cos u have the ability to make lots of money and if we're good then we'll always have clients booked in. It's the column with the highest retail target - 65% of our target is of sales...ergh...the treatment costs $US145 and it lasts for an hour...

So anyways, ur officially lookin at ur onboard Detox specialist! hehee...I even got a badge for it! I have had news that there's a ship next to my name - but it's not for another 2 weeks, and nothing is ever certain. They always give u details and then they change them...so I'm trying not to get too excited cos i might just get disappointed.

Here's my badge - nothing fancy, just a symbol of my achievement! yay...

So this weekend is the first weekend since school started that i got to see all the sights! Yay...I went and saw sooo much! On Fri nite I went out with some friends and they walked me around Leicester square, Soho (the gay area), Chinatown, Piccadilly circus...it was hard to see everything cos i was walking, talking and eating gelati and trying to take in all the sights...it's a very busy area on a friday night with heaps of restaurants...No pix of that unfortunately...nex time! (if there is a next time!)

Here's a pic of the tube and just some areas i marked out - don't take note of the lack of professionalism in it...I can't be bothered! Click on the pic to view a larger image.

Then on Saturday I went to:

- Westminster Abbey - Rick and Ange, I know you would have loved this place! Tombs n family crests n stuff everywhere!

- London Eye - I didn't actually go on it - only went past it and took pictures, it's no fun if u go on that on ur own, so i didn't - and it was a lil expensive...something like £20. See the plane in the background? It was a Qantas plane! Hehee...oh home!

- Camden markets - A lil on the grunge side - not my stlye, and it was really hot so i couldn't even be bothered looking, just walked around a little.

- Oxford st - omg, so expensive! I know i gotta stop calculating and comparing prices to back home...but some of this stuff was ridiculously expensive!! Havaina thongs were £20!! in Aus, they're $20! and they're just thongs (That u wear on ur feet - not the other kind)!!

Saturday night i went out with some friends to a bday party and it was really odd - ppl drinking alcohol on this large street (they're allowed to!) so drunk ppl everywhere...sitting on the road/pavement and it wasn't so nice, broken glass everywhere n pretti dirty. Not my idea of a good night out, but it was an eye opener!

Sunday I went out again by myself - it's much better exploring on ur own. At first I realli wanted someone to accompany me, but when i went on my own, it was great! You don't have to wait for anyone, u can do wat u like, dun have to worry about whether the other person can afford to go to this place...that kinda thing...downside is you don't really have anyone to share the experience with. I had a great time on sunday, these are the places i went to:

- St Paul's Cathedral - OMG this place is absolutely amazing...There are no words to describe it, just so beautiful! I think one of the best places i've visited ever...I was there on sunday so it wasn't open for tours - just for church service, but the bits i did see were so nice. Normally u could go up into the dome and see the whole city - will have to do that again if i get a chance!

These are pix of postcards because you're not allowed to take photos inside

- Tower bridge - good views and nice to see, but I coulda given it a miss...not so excited in bridges really!

From the outside.

And the panoramic view from the inside

- Tower of London - I didn't have enough time to go in but i took pix of it on the outside - woulda loved to see all the royal jewels n stuff...

Panoramic view of the tower...

- Buckingham palace - u can't go in, but i took heaps of pix on the outside. I saw some of the royal guard as well.

- Admirality Arch - I took a walk down from Buckingham Palace down to Admirality Arch - it was a really nice stroll. I remember seeing footage of it on tv at some stage.

- Trafalgar square was next - it was full of ppl because there was a Mauritian festival on. i didn't have time to check it out tho, so i just took a few photos and went on my way to...

- Hyde park (speaker's corner) - my last stop before i went home. U can imagine how exhausted i was at this stage. Speaker's corner is where people can talk about anything they want - i think it's mostly a place for ppl who have nothing better to do than to stand around arguing with each other all day. There were some ppl talking about 'the struggle of black ppl', 'A guy yelling about islam or something'...nothing very interesting. So I plonked myself down on the grass and had a lil nap. It was sooo nice...Hyde park is huge - instead of ppl going to the beach on a hot day like in melb, most ppl go to parks instead. It's nice...There were lounge chairs on the grass, but u had to pay £2 to sit on em for 4 hours...pretty funny cos ppl were actually using em - y didn't they just sit on the grass for free?

So that's my sunday! It was a great weekend and I took about 200 photos!

But now i'm back at school and from tomorrow I'll be studying my ass off for the next 2 weeks again! With no weekend break - again! OH WELLS! Only 2 more weeks and i could be on the ships working! yay!! wish me luck...
-

Congrats to Vi & Case

2006-05-30T02:18:00.000+10:00

Just wanted to say congratulations to Vi and Case who had their first baby boy on Sunday 21st May...He was 2 weeks early and weighed about 3kg...

At one of our dinners, we came up with some good names for the new bub, but they decided against them all and chose Liam Jong - a lovely name, but nonetheless, here's some ideas we came up with: Long Jong & Mah Jong. There were heaps more, but I can't remember them...those were the best i think...hehee...

The proud parents with their new bubs...

It was so cute to see Case as plucky as a mother hen...

Congrats guys!!

Drive around London

2006-05-29T23:41:00.000+10:00

So my first official day (cos i was fully awake and not a zombie) in London. Rudi took me for a drive around London and I got to take heaps of pictures from the car. Got some great shots of the big ben! I'll post some pictures up...and the rest will be on my pix site.

Oh hang on, before i get to that, gotta tell you all about Costco. It's like a huge warehouse kinda store and it has everything...here's some pix i took of the funny things i found for various ppl...

Their salt n vinegar chips are green instead of purple!! These are for Mike n Jen who luv their S&V chips in bed watching friends...

A pallet of red bull just for Nyna...I know it's not V, but it'll do the job...look how many cans there are in this slab!! That'll keep u awake 4 sure!

Anyone want any beer? Plenty to go around...

Along with the slabs of red bull, s&v chips and beer...they were selling very expensive jewellery...look at the price tag! The incl VAT price that is!!

Haha...and then next to the 11,749 POUND necklace, they also sell wheelchairs...!

That's just to mention some things, what else did i see...there were heaps of soccer balls, huge plasma tvs, gazebo's, plants, washing machines, books, brand name clothing, bulk food...u name it, everything was here, in bulk! And better yet, apparently cheaper than all other stores. It's like combining our Coles, Borders, Bunnings, Myer, Garden World, Sportsmart, BWS all in one store...it was huge...I was astounded...ok so it doesn't sound so amazing, but trust me, when u see it, it's like...whoa! Anyways, enough about costco...

So my day drive around london produced some nice photos...Rudi took me for a drive all over london, it took a few hours...it was really good to see everything. London is such a beautiful city...Here's some select shots...

A nice shot i took of the big ben (from a moving car, I might add) - This one's for mike

Some beautiful carvings on a building...

The London Eye next to the Houses of Parliament and Big Ben...

Want a million pound house? In an expensive area of the outskirts of london...

This is the fencing around Buckingham palace - barbed wire, huge spikes and an electric fence...watchout!

So that's just a brief view of london from the car...Great city, lots to see. I'll prob be actually visiting these places when i have money and more time - probably when I finish the contract on my ship. I'll come back to london and be a tourist and do all the touristy stuff...can't wait...

So enough from me for now...tomorrow I have orientation and then school starts...prob won't have anything interesting to post for a while...so enjoy what I have put up!!

My trip to london

2006-05-29T01:57:00.000+10:00

Okies, so as you know, i'm already here in london, but here's some pix and more about my trip there - omg it was such a long 2 flights from melb to hk to london...talk about jetlagged!

Here's my family at the airport before i left...
dad, minh, lien, mum & me

So on the plane i go, my flight was at 2.40pm. A 9.5 hour flight to hong kong, i arrived at hong kong at 10.30pm.

Here's the view outside my window flying over Australia...u can see the frost on the window if you click on the pic and see the full size version!

At this stage i'm getting pretty tired and bored and really can't be bothered watching any of the movies!!

After arriving in HK, I then had a 2 hr wait where i had a beer with some guys from australia (one was going to amsterdam, the other to london). Then when we got on the plane, there was an hour delay cos their was some problems with air traffic congestion (or something like that) going over china...they tell us this after they've packed us like sardines into the plane...it was a long one hour wait.

When we finally took off, it was then a 12.5 hour flight to London. Rudi and Choo picked me up from the airport and i was actually pretty ok when i got there at 7.30ish, and then at about 2pm i started to get tired. But Rudi and Choo said it's best for me to stay up as long as i can so i can get used to the timezone change. So i managed to stay up til 5pm when i couldn't stand it any longer and took a nap before dinner. Woke up at 7pm to have dinner and managed to stay awake for another 2 hrs. I went to bed at 9pm and woke up this morning at 7am...long good really good sleep!!

I'm in LONDON!!

2006-05-27T19:33:00.000+10:00

Hi all!

I can't believe it! I'm actually here...

After a really long and grueling journey, 9.5 hrs to Hong Kong, and then a 2 hr transit, and then the plane was delayed an hour (they told us this after we were all packed like sardines waiting for take off), then it was a 12.5 hr journey to London. I surprisingly did manage to get some sleep, which is surprising. Flying is so draining and all you do is sit there and once in a while get up to go to the toilet...hehee...after such a long flight, i'd be happy not to have to take another flight so soon.

It's 10.35am on saturday at the moment here - at home it's about 7.30pm on saturday i believe...I'm already homesick and missing everyone.

Anyways, gonna go take a shower and i'll write more later...

At the moment I'm staying with Jon's aunty Choo and uncle Rudy. They were nice enough to pick me up from the airport and now i'm staying with them while i'm training - that's if steiner will let me. Will find out on my first day of school...

My going away party

2006-05-22T17:20:00.000+10:00

I had to separate my going away dinners because the group would have been too big, so I had the one i posted about earlier on thursday at Kimchi grandma, and on Friday night I had it at Westlake in Chinatown. Food wasn't that good - would have much preferred Ling Nam (also in chinatown, best chilli pippies ever!) but they were booked out. Once again, soo happy that everyone made the effort to come and see me before i leave...here are pix from the restaurant - omg we took sooo many photos that night...

Here's some of them at the restaurant

Lynda, Jen & I

After the restaurant, we went to Lavish where everyone had the plan to get me drunk - of course, my going away. My plan was to not get smashed, lying in the toilets puking my guts out...hehe, so i drank only bourbon and cokes - can't take shots anymore! So at the end of the night, i was at the happy drunk stage...just where i wanted to be.

me, marcus, jen, vi, q, san & mike

Thanh, mike, marcus, me, jen, q & cat

More pix available at my pix site.

For my babi boy minko!

2006-05-22T15:52:00.000+10:00

So while i was getting ready for Minh's birthday on saturday, mike was looking at my blog and i heard him say, 'How come chuzzle gets a mention and i don't?!' Hehee...now that i'm expecting more traffic to my blog (cos i've told everyone about it now) I guess it's time to intro everyone to mike - even tho most of you already know him!!

Mike and I at Minh's Birthday on Sat nite (20/05/06)

And again, outside (freezing cold!!)

Hmm...so wat to say? Mike is the person who makes me smile when I feel down and he can always make me laugh and feel better... He's always smiling and is always in a good mood - except that one time he woke up and sat staring into the cupboard in a grump - u no wen i'm talking about! Hahaa...and lynda asked me what i did, and i said, "i dunno?? I didn't do anything!" and then lynda replies, "I've never seen him like this, i'm scared!" hehee...it was something along those lines anyway...

We've been together for about 9 months now and it's been as good now as it was in the beginning...

Love u heaps babi boy!!

Skype & my going away dinner

2006-05-19T12:57:00.000+10:00

I discovered Skype!! It's going to be real handy and real cheap for me when i'm overseas. For those of you who don't know, welcome to the world of cheap calls (To mobiles [27c/min], sms [12c] and home phones [3c/min]) or free calls (if both ppl are using skype to talk to each other via their computers). The good thing is that it's a flat rate all over the world - i mean, whether i'm using it to call/sms here or whether i'm in london, the price is the same to call back to aus...pretti good!! The rates to use it here aren't that good, but when you're overseas calling home, that's waaayyy cheap!

so i guess if i can find an internet connection, i'll be able to call/sms you guys more often! yay! makes me feel a lot better that it's more affordable to contact everyone!

So last night i had dinner with my highschool friends from westall. I was soooo happy that everyone i invited made the effort to come n have dinner with me before i go! Even though i didn't get a chance to talk to everyone all that much, it meant soo much that they came...

We ate ate Kimchi Grandma in Koornang rd, carnegie. Food was really nice - but i didn't get to eat much cos i was talking too much hehee...had to pick the scraps!! But it's all good...We had the whole upstairs area to ourselves which was really good cos we were all so noisy! It was a great night...

Tu, Pov and I

Vinh, me and mike

Oanh and I

For more pix, see my website.

Poor thumper :(

2006-05-16T11:18:00.000+10:00

Today is a sad day for me...jon told me that his babi bunny thumper was killed. Thumper lived outside with his gippig friend Lambie. He got killed by a fox or something...Jon said thumper prob thought the animal was a friend n tried to play with it or something...that's thumper, always so friendly and really not scared enough of anything :( Thumper had such a sweet temperament - he was really different to binkie...Thumper loved cuddles and being picked up and patted and he never bit anyone...

I only just saw thumper on Sunday for the first time in ages. I went over to visit jon and his parents and thumper spent a lot of time on my lap letting me pat him and hold him upside down and hypnotising him...

I'm glad that I at least got to see him before this happened :(

Here's a picture of thumper and i from sunday...Jon took it...

This is me holding thumper upside down - he's hypnotised, he'll lie like that for ages until he snaps out of it!

I'm going to miss thumper heaps....

RIP Thumper
16.05.2006

My Babi Binkie!

2006-05-16T11:08:00.000+10:00

Okies, so since jon posted a 'tribute' (calling it anything less would be an insult!! hehee...) to his bubby Thumper, I thought I'd put one up about Binkie! My baby bunny - not so baby anymore, she's fat and big! Here's a picture of her when she was a baby...

Binkie in a basket - she was so tiny when i got her...now she's like 5 times as big! No joke!!

Here's a lil bit about my babi binkie...

Binkie is a girl bunny and she's pretty tempermental.
She doesn't really liked to be picked up and only likes you to pat her when she wants to be touched.
She lives in my room with me (don't worry, she's litter trained!) and in the mornings she knows she's gonna get fed, so she runs around and around in circles and around my legs like the crazy bunny she is and she hops around all excited.
At nights when i'm watching tv or settling down into bed she jumps up and sits there waiting to for me to pat her and scratch her ears...She can be affectionate if she wants to be.
She doesn't really like strangers and if ppl make too much noise, she charges them and thumps her feet on the ground.
If you start patting her, u have to pay attention cos she'll nip u if u don't pay attention to her!
She's about 4 years old now...she needs exercise cos she's fat! Here's a picture of her now...

Binkie spread out on the floor

Chuzzle!

2006-05-15T16:52:00.000+10:00

Just a quick note to say i beat kelly's score!! Hehee...there u go kels, now you can start playing again - didn't beat u by all that much tho! 430,080...I'm sure you'll beat me soon tho...it took forever! and so many tries! hehee... if you haven't tried chuzzling it yet, try it! so fun!

Chuzzle is the best game!! EVER!!

2006-05-10T16:15:00.001+10:00

Okies, so i'm getting ppl addicted to chuzzle - thanks to Ange! Was only playing for fun until rick told me his score was just shy of half a million...but i had to try and beat Kelly's score of 408,960. My Highest score so far is now 382,610! so close and yet a little too far...so here i go again to play some more...

This weekend...

2006-05-09T14:00:00.000+10:00

I thought I had a pretty packed weekend prepared, but turned out I just bummed most of the time...ahhh that's the life!

So on friday nite we went to p1 for mov's - turned out it wasn't so much of a 'surprise' cos he already knew about it...But we all drank heaps n got pretti drunk n had some dramas - as usual when girls get too drunk...Here are some pictures...

We don't generally like p1 cos it's sooo crowded and so hot. I think I like it better at clubs that aren't so crowded cos u don't always get pushed around and stepped on - ouch those damn spiky heels hurt!

Cathy, Q, Mov, Belinda & me

Sophie, me, Trang, Q, TJ, Lynda, Marina, San & Vi

Q, Bel, Cat, me, Serei, Mov, David, Minh & Mike

So yesterday i didn't go to work cos i had to go get my norweigan medical test done (need to pass this to work on the ships). This involves the following: eye tests, hearing tests, medical history questions, movement tests etc...to top it off, a urine test (for drugs) and a blood test. The urine test was super embarassing...Because it's testing for drugs, the nurse had to watch me pee! And I couldn't go...How embarassment! After she left the toilet tho, I went fine - I swear i have no problems :P

Then after that, I had to take a blood test which was 4 vials full - probably 40 mls all up...It didn't hurt too much at the time, the first 3 vials filled up real quick, the last one dribbled out and the nurse wriggled the needle around a bit - ouch! And now i have a bruise...here's a picture... (ignore the hairs! I couldn't wax over a bruise, it's a contraindication to waxing!)

You can see where the needle went in and where the bruise is...painful lookin huh?

So yeah, not feeling too well today - have been feeling a lil ill since last week. Last night i took the nite time cold n flu tablets so i could fall asleep. Oh boy does that stuff work good! as soon as i put my head down, i was out like a light!! Love night time cold n flu tablets!

So even with the good sleep I had, I still find myself falling asleep now...

My up and coming trip...

2006-05-05T13:12:00.000+10:00

For all of you who don't already know, I'm leaving in 3 weeks (as of today) for London. I'll be in london for training for about 2 weeks and then i'll be on a contract for 8 months on the cruise ships...sailing the carribean or mediteranean (not exactly sure yet). Working of course - not just lazing about on some island with the sun shining on me, catching a golden tan...no not like that at all...more like slaving away in a tiny little room giving ppl facials and massages for 12 hours a day...not envying me so much anymore are you??? BUT and there is a BUT...Every 3 days a fortnight I'll be able to get out of my crampled lil treatment room and get to go on that beach i was dreaming about...ohhhhh yeaa! Look at my poor photoshop skills ==>

Starting to stress out a lil bit now tho. Gotta make sure i have everything organised, this includes my insurance and anything else i need to organise. I been thinking, but realli can't think of wat else i need to do besides pack!! uh oh...how to cram all my clothes into a suitcase with a max of 20kg...? I dunno, wish me luck!

So all this stress is affecting my health i think! I have a muscle in my cheek that sometimes realli hurts - like it's inflammed. I think it's from clenching my jaw at night when i sleep - I haven't had the best sleep lately! I just took a neurofen about 30 mins ago and it shoulda kiked in by now but nup! it still hurts...it affects my eating :( Couldn't even finish my tom yum noodle soup from noodle box last night...Makes me sad :( hate it when i can't finish my food!

Tonight we're going to P1 for Mov's surprise 25th birthday party - I think...hehe i haven't heard anything new about it recently...I'll take lots of pix tonite - I'm driving, a lil bit over drinking now...don't like the hangovers! erghhh...

Oh boy, looks like i'm already gettin addicted to this blog thing...think I've written too much yet? Totally gettin bored huh? Next thing on my list...write all the things I'm gonna miss while i'm gone... :(

Let's try again

2006-05-05T11:24:00.000+10:00

Okies, I created a blog with the addy misslely.blogspot but for some reason, i log in today and the blogs gone and i can't create another one with the same name cos of course, it's already taken! So let's just try miss-lely.blogspot and hope that i can still access it tomorrow...fingers crossed...alrighty, time to get customisin for my blog page...is that the right terminology? hehee...ignore me, i'm new to this!